


Zoom Interrupted

by ShyVioletCat



Series: Zoom Interrupted [1]
Category: Throne of Glass Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, quarantine zoom meeting, zoom meetings with kids is fun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23730208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyVioletCat/pseuds/ShyVioletCat
Summary: Terrible title I know but this is just little Drabble so I didn’t want to think too hard about it. Zoom conference gets interrupted in the cutest way. (Lies it turned into more...)
Relationships: Aelin Ashryver Galathynius | Celaena Sardothien/Rowan Whitethorn, Rowaelin - Relationship
Series: Zoom Interrupted [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1709254
Comments: 8
Kudos: 131





	1. Chapter 1

“So those report will need to be done by Thursday so we can make amendments and get them turned in before the weekend.”

Lorcan wasn’t even looking at the screen while he ran the meeting Rowan and the rest of his team were in. Rather he just looked down at his notes while half of them rolled their eyes. Rowan held his off, Lorcan was a pedantic bastard, but he got the job done.

“Whitethorn,” he all but barked, pushing his glasses to the top of his head, “you have those numbers?”

Rowan looked down at his own notes, flicking through the pages. “Yep, give me one second.”

He was so focused on finding what he needed that he didn’t hear the door creak open or the soft footsteps that walked over to him. He only realised he had a visitor when small hands landed on his thigh.

“Dada.”

Rowan looked down and smile at his daughter, just shy of 18 months old. She grinned up at him with tiny teeth. “Dada.”

“Rowan you still there or are you frozen?” Lorcan pushed.

“Hold up,” he said and lifted Elsie into his lap.

Pandemonium broke out. Rowan couldn’t differentiate between the voices who had started vying for the toddler’s attention. Her green eyes darted from person to person, babbling at their antics. Rowan looked at the screen and the only one not speaking was Lorcan, he just sat back in his chairs with his arms crossed, the faintest of smiles on his face.

“Elsie, Elsie, sweetheart, hi! How are you?” Fenrys said as he lent closer to the screen.

Rowan had to hold her back from the screen as she tried slap his face.

“Do you miss us?” Connall piped in from his own little rectangle.

“Of course she does, I’d be bored out of my brain if I was stuck with him all day,” Vaughan added as he pointed to Rowan.

Rowan was tempted to flip him off by Elsie was watching close enough that she’d see him.

“Numbers, Whitethorn,” Lorcan reminded him.

“I know! Let’s see who can make her laughed the hardest,” Fenrys said, completely ignoring Lorcan. “Winner gets their dinner delivered.”

Everyone else agreed, deciding to start from one corner and move along the row. Gavriel went first, earning a good amount of giggles. Next was Vaughan who only got a sceptical glare from the child, looking so much like Aelin it had the rest of them laughing. Then it was Connall’s turn and be played a round peekaboo that earned him a good stream of giggles. Fenrys was the one to get the belly laughs though, as he pulled face after face. Elsie’s laughter was contagious and it had them all laughing.

“Your turn boss,” Fenrys said, the only one of them brave enough to poke the beast.

Lorcan shook his head.

“You’ll say no to this face?” Rowan said, ticking Elsie’s sides so she smiled.

Lorcan sighed, and shook his head. Then to everyone’s surprise he lent forward and said, “Elsie.” She looked at him. “Hello.”

As Lorcan said hello he tapped his glasses so the fell from his head and landed on his nose. Straight away Elsie was laughing and clapping her hands excitedly, Lorcan did it again and she laughed harder. Everyone in the video conference was gaping. Lorcan had won by miles.

“Quick, quick!” Gavriel said through his smile. “Someone take a screenshot so we have evidence of Lorcan smiling.”

That had deep, low laughter coming through Rowan’s speakers from four different locations over the city.

“Shut up dickheads,” Lorcan grumbled, his arms crossed again.

“Lorcan Salvaterre, did you just swear in front of my daughter?”

Aelin’s question has everyone laughing harder.

“You’re in for it now,” Fenrys taunted. “Nice PJs Ms Galathynius,” Fenrys added.

Rowan turned as Aelin lent her elbow on Rowan’s shoulder. She was wearing her Cindella pyjamas, mice and spools of thread all over them. Rowan thought they were cute.

“Excuse me these are my day time pyjamas, you don’t get the privilege of seeing me in my nighttime pyjamas,” Aelin added with an eyebrow wiggle.

Rowan snorted at the varying reactions. Gavriel covered his face with his hands, Lorcan rolled his eyes, Fenrys laughed while Vaughan and Connall just smirked and shook their heads.

Aelin kissed Rowan’s cheek as she lifted Elsie from his lap. “Sorry, I took an unexpected nap.”

“A nap at 11am, not pregnant again are you, Ace?” Fenrys said cheekily.

Aelin cackled. “I certainly hope not. Also my sex life is none of your business. Don’t go looking for details just because your on your lonesome with just —”

Fenrys cut her off, “I’m doing perfectly fine, I’ll have you know.”

There was a collective groan. Cannall hissed a _please shut up_ , at who Rowan didn’t know, probably the two of them.

“Can we get back to the meeting please?” Lorcan said.

“Of course, boss man. Say goodbye, Elsie,” Aelin said and she waved the baby’s arm.

“Bye,” Elsie said as she started waving by herself. “Bye.”

There was a chorus of goodbyes as Aelin left the room, Elsie waving frantically over her shoulder. Rowan watched them leave, smiling so hard it hurt his face. Lorcan’s pointed cough had him looking back at his computer.

Rowan found the information she was looking for. “So the numbers.”


	2. Chapter 2

Aelin startled awake as Rowan called out her name from wherever he was.

“Aelin?”

“Yep, yep. What is it?” She called back to him.

“Can you get the video conference set up? I’m just changing Elsie. The code is on the post-it on the desk,” he said.

With a sigh she pushed herself up from the couch and dragged herself to the study. The leftover chicken Aelin had eaten last night when she got a bit snacky was not sitting well. She was yet to throw it up but it felt like she was close, even after the nap. Aelin practically fell into the chair in front of the computer and logged in as Rowan, clicking on the app Aelin put in the code. It seemed Rowan was the last one to arrive, all the others were already there.

“Casual Friday, is it?” Fenrys’ too cheerful voice said through the speaker. He was no doubt referring to Rowan’s light blue V neck tshirt she wore.

“Oh please,” Aelin said as she tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ears. “How many of you aren’t wearing pants right now.”

She saw Vaughan raise his hand and snorted.

“Are you alright, Aelin? You’re looking a bit peaky,” Gavriel said, his voice concerned.

“Yeah, I just ate something that didn’t agree with me,” Aelin replied.

She heard Fenrys snigger, knowing he’d bite back with something. “Was it Ro—“

There was a cacophony of _nos_ and _shut ups_ and _you’re disgustings_ from everyone on the video conference.

“You are the actual worst, Fenrys,” Lorcan muttered. That made Aelin crack a smile.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up, Lorcan just made her smile. There must be something wrong,” Fenrys’ voice was full of mock panic. “Do you have a temperature? Are you dying? The last time you smiled at Lorcan gave you that giant jar of Nutella when you were pregnant. Are you sure you’re not knocked up again? You’re stuck in the house with not much else to do besides each other so…”

Aelin bit down on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from laughing. “I’m sure my Uncle really appreciates you bringing up my sex life. Again.”

Gavriel was indeed looking like he would much rather be talking about _anything_ else.

“Last time I checked I was most definitely not pregnant, in fact since you just keep fishing for too much information I can tell you, my period is due in…” Aelin squinted down to the corner of the screen to see the date, then she did a quick add up. It was then she felt the colour drain from her face.

Rowan entered the study, carrying Elsie upside down as she laughed and squirmed, distracting everyone from the current line of conversation. Then Elsie spotted her mother.

“Mum!” She squealed. Rowan righted the toddler before dropping her in Aelin’s lap.

“Kiss for Mum?” Rowan prompted and Elsie squished Aelin’s face between her hands and pressed a very wet kiss to her cheek.

“Thank you Elspeth,” Aelin said as she kissed her daughter on the cheek in turn. “Did you see your fans are here?”

Elsie turned in Aelin’s arms and then stood on her mother’s knees, an arm bracing herself on the desk while the other waved excitedly at the screen. “Hi! Hi!” Her little voice squeaked.

Everyone aww-ed and waved back, making the toddler grin.

“Come on little princess, lets got before Uncle Lorcan gets even crankier.” Aelin bid Rowan’s co-workers farewell, taking Elspeth to the lounge room.

They played for a bit but Aelin couldn’t get rid of that nagging feeling in her chest. She couldn’t be… they were careful. But accidents did happen and nothing but abstinence guaranteed a 100% success rate and they definitely weren’t doing that. She’d just eaten some bad chicken. That was it.

Aelin lasted about half an hour more, then she picked up Elsie and went back into the study. “Rowan,” she said quietly as she opened up the door.

He clicked the screen so that he was muted. “What is it?”

“Can I leave her with you? I need to use the bathroom.”

“Sure, we’re hanging up in a minute anyway,” Rowan said as Aelin put Elsie down and she walked over to him. He smiled as she approached him, arms open to her, it had Aelin’s heart bursting.

Then she was rushing off to their ensuite, rummaging around in the cupboards. She knew there were some pregnancy tests somewhere, she hadn’t used the whole box last time she needed them. Aelin found them, right at the back, with about 6 months left on the expiration date. Hands shaking she ripped open the packet and did what she had to do.

Waiting those few minutes felt like waiting hours as she watched the timer tick away on her phone. When it got to zero she didn’t hesitate and she looked. The first emotion she felt was anger, a burning, raging anger as she saw the blue plus sign. Then she was moving, storming through their home towards the study. The door flew open as she smacked it with her fist.

“You got me pregnant during a pandemic!”

Rowan turned to her, his face a mix of confusion and shock as he registered her words. Elsie was still focused on the screen and to Aelin’s horror she realised why. The video conference was still going. She thought they would have hung up by now, she hadn’t thought to check at all.

There was a long awkward silence, no one wanting to confirm they’d heard her outburst. It was Fenrys who dared to speak first, his voice higher than usual like he was trying his hardest not to laugh. “So… congratulations?”

Aelin felt embarrassment mix with her anger. “I thought you’d hung up already.”

“Nope.” Rowan said. He set Elsie on the ground looking as though he was about to faint. No, he wasn’t allowed to even go there. He wasn’t the one who was pregnant during a global pandemic.

Aelin advanced on him, her eyes flicking to the screen she could see Fenrys shaking with laughter behind his hand.

“Dude, it’s not funny,” Connall hissed at his brother, that only made Fenrys laugh harder.

“Maybe you should go?” Lorcan’s calm voice suggested.

“No!” Fenrys blurted out. “I want to see this murder with my own eyes.”

Aelin was about to start swearing at the obnoxious man regardless of her young daughter being in the room but by some miracle she stopped herself. She eyed Rowan, reading every emotion on his face. The shock, the panic, the look of _oh gods my wife is about to murder me_.

“Well, really,” Rowan said. Aelin giving him a look that suggested he better pick his next words very wisely. “It takes two people, so it’s not all me.”

Aelin was advancing on him again. Finger pointed. “You,” the word came out as a growl as she reached the desk, Rowan leaning back in his chair in an effort to put some distance between them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the rest of the men privy to this conversation do the same. “That’s what you’re going with?”

Rowan didn’t say anything.

“It’s my personal opinion that the man should ultimately be the one to confirm and be responsible for the contraception. It’s him who does the damage,” Fenrys mused.

Aelin glared at the screen. “We do not need your running commentary.”

Her hand slammed down on the keyboard and by some stroke of luck managed to hit the right button and five gawking faces disappeared from the screen. She continued to glare at Rowan, but her anger was turning into something else. Something that had her throat tightening and tears building in her eyes. Rowan reached out and took her hand.

“Fireheart,” he said softly and pressed a kiss to her hand. “Are you okay?”

Aelin swallowed once. “No.”

Something small hugged her legs and she looked down to see her daughter looking up at her, her little brow furrowed in an expression that was so much like Rowan it almost made her smile. Then she sighed.

“You are right, this isn’t entirely your fault,” Aelin admitted.

Rowan scooted closer, wrapping his arms around her, one hand running soothingly over her back as he looked up at her. “So it’s not the chicken,” Rowan said and Aelin shook her head. Rowan pressed a gentle kiss to her stomach. “We always said we wanted more.”

“Not when the world’s has gone to hell,” Aelin said, running her hand over her daughters golden haired head.

“You’ve got this, Aelin. We’ll get through this, we’ll do this,” Rowan laced her hand with his and kissed it, “together.”

Rowan’s phone buzzed from where it sat on the table. They both looked at it and Aelin saw it was a text from Fenrys. Rowan gave her a look that said _here we go…_ Rowan opened the message and his eyes lit up with humour. He turned the phone to Aelin so she could see it.

There were two images side by side, one of stripped shelves of groceries and the other of the of completely stocked shelves of contraceptives. Then Aelin read the text and couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of her mouth.

_**Y’all forgot something…** _


	3. Chapter 3

Rowan sat down and booted up his computer, Elsie hugged to his chest in one arm. The poor thing was upset, Aelin was feeling miserable and nauseous and just needed some space, some things their one year old daughter was struggling to understand. Elsie had cried as Rowan had carried her out of the bedroom, Aelin curled beneath the blanket apologising to the both of them. Rowan had told her not to worry about it, if Elsie sat with him or played in the room while he was on the video conference, his coworkers would just have to deal with it. 

He signed in and after a few moments everyone else did, murmuring hellos that perked up once they saw Elsie is Rowan’s arms. She was having none of it though and just buried her face in her father’s neck with a small whine. The only shot that had remained free of people was Lorcan’s which was odd, as he was the one running the show.

“Where’s the boss?” Vaughan asked. “He’s signed in obviously, but where is he?” 

No one else seemed to have an answer. Rowan looked at his own video stream, checking to see if Elsie had cheered up any. She hadn’t, she was still frowning, gripping onto the collar of his tshirt. 

Finally Lorcan appeared, and everyone sat up a little straighter. It wasn’t often that the man looked frazzled, but today it seemed was one of those days. The reason for it was apparent.

Rowan leaned his head down to whisper to his daughter. “Hey, Elsie. Look who it is.”

Elsie raised her head up a little and on the screen Rowan watched as her face split into a wide grin. 

“Korby!” She all but squealed. 

Lorcan’s two year old son sat on his knee, all dark hair and eyes, his face lighting up as Elsie called out his name. He was immediately standing up and leaning on the desk with the hand that held a dinosaur toy and waving furiously with the other.

“Hi, Essie. Hi!” Korbin said, leaning in closer. “I playing Dad,” he explained.

“Dada,” Elsie said, then it was followed by a stream of babble he couldn’t interpret that ended with Korbin’s name.

He assumed it had to do with him being on the screen so Rowan said, “Yeah, there he is.”

Elsie clapped and Korbin giggled. Rowan glanced at the other faces on the chat, they were all beaming, even Lorcan.

But Lorcan then cleared his throat, hiding most of his smile as he said, “Elide had to do a grocery run. Didn’t realise we were almost out of nappies.” 

“Well, well, well, look at Mr Professional,” Fenrys quipped, arms crossed and swinging his chair side to side.

There were in fact a few audible groans and Lorcan just flat out ignored him. 

“How is Aelin doing?” Gavriel asked. 

“She’s doing alright, the nausea has picked up so she’s feeling pretty miserable at the moment. Just needed some space,” Rowan said, inclining his head to Elsie.

Just then Korbin raised his dinosaur to the screen and roared. That had Elsie descending into a fit of giggles, so he did it again. Everyone was smiling or laughing.

“Alright, I know we’ve got two toddlers in the meeting but can we try and get something done?” Lorcan prompted but the effect of his words missed their mark a little with the smirk on his face. 

They all started going over what they needed too for the meeting but everyone was only half paying attention because they were too busy watching the show the toddlers were putting on. Elsie watched Korbin’s every move, a smile on her face. Korbin seemed to cotton on to the fact she was practically enchanted with him and made sure he kept her attention. 

“Essie, see. I put it head!” Korbin said as he put his dinosaur toy on his head then moved from side to side. Elsie watched with her little hands clasped in front of her. Then Elsie instigated a raspberry blowing competition that had to be called off because of how wet the screens were getting. Their game of peekaboo had everyone in near hysterics. Korbin soon realised that Elsie liked when he played with Lorcan, interrupting him and taking his glasses or the piece of paper he was holding. Korbin turned, tapping at Lorcan’s face with his little hand, “Dad. Dad, Dad, daddy,” he repeated that over and over until Lorcan finally relented and stopped the train of thought he was on.

“Yes, son,” he said, looking down at Korbin affectionately.

“I like dadasaurs,” was Korbin’s very serious reply.

Everyone tried not to laugh but failed. Lorcan just sighed but then tickled Korbin’s sides which had both him and Elsie laughing, then he said, “I like dinosaurs too.”

“Aww, look at that. My heart is just all warm and fuzzy,” Fenrys teased. He was saved from any scathing remarks by Elide coming in.

“Sorry about that boys,” she said as she stood by Lorcan’s shoulder. “How is everyone?”

Everyone replied with variations of ‘good’ and ‘doing well’. But Fenrys was grinning, which only meant trouble. Elide sent a confused look to Lorcan who just rolled his eyes.

“Get everything you needed?” Fenrys said.

“I think so,” Elide said, her voice lilting in her confusion. “Just needed some essentials.”

“Essentials, huh? You get _all_ the essentials, Elide?” Fenrys asked and Rowan felt himself inwardly groan at his tone. “Was contraception on the list? You don’t want to end up like the Galathynius-Whitethorn household.”

Realisation dawned on Elide’s face and then her eyes narrowed. It seemed Fenrys wasn’t done yet. 

“Just ask Fenrys, we don’t have time for this,” Connall interjected.

“So, when are you guys giving Korbin a —“

“If you ask me when we’re having another baby I swear I will reach through this screen and strangle you myself,” Elide said, pointing a finger at him.

Fenrys raised his hands in defeat but Rowan, and everyone else, could see the mischief still dancing in his eyes.

Korbin reached for his mother and Elide took that as her cue to go and told him to say goodbye. Korbin waved to everyone, except Elsie who was momentarily distracted by her drawing.

“She’ll be pregnant before this quarantine is over,” Fenrys whispered. But his smile turned into a cringe when Elide’s voice came from off screen.

“I heard that! You better watch yourself, moon moon!”

Everyone tried to hide their laughter, cautious of not bringing Elide’s wrath down on them as well. 

Then Fenrys pointed at Rowan. “Case and point,” he said and Rowan glared at him. Fenrys only scoffed, “Don’t look at me like that. It was all you.”

“What was all him?” Aelin asked, she’d snuck into the room while they were all distracted.

Gavriel didn’t give Fenrys a chance to reply. “Don’t you say one more word,” he said. Seemed Gavriel was understandably growing tired of hearing about his niece’s sex life. “Mute him right now, Lorcan. Before he can say anything else.”

Rowan looked at Aelin, she looked exhausted but she chuckled softly at the antics of Rowan’s coworkers.

“I’m surprised you don’t just mute him from the start,” Aelin added.

“That’s rude, I contribute a lot to this company,” Fenrys said.

Aelin tilted her head questioningly. “Are you sure?”

Fenrys flipped her off and she gasped, covering Elsie’s eyes. “There are children present, Mr Moonbeam!”

Rowan smiled and put a hand on the small of Aelin’s back. She looked over at him, her features softened by a small smile. “Are you okay?” He asked.

Aelin nodded but before she could reply, Elsie looked up at the screen and saw that Korbin was gone. “Korby?”

She said his name a few times, getting more and more distressed. Aelin picked her up, with a little help from Rowan, and hugged her close. “Why don’t we go call Korby, huh? Leave Daddy to work.”

Everyone called out goodbyes as Elsie left the room, she was much too sad to reply this time.

“So…” Fenrys said. “We done?”

“No,” was Lorcan’s firm and unquestioning reply. 

Rowan chuckled as he found the right page of his notes, and he kept smiling as he heard Elsie’s laughter coming from the living room, no doubt reunited with her Zoom buddy.


	4. Chapter 4

Rowan was trying not to zone out for the tenth time in this Zoom meeting. But he was just so tired. He had been taking care of Elsie almost entirely by himself, Aelin was still not feeling her best and she was tired all the time so it was Rowan pulling the hard yards. He didn’t mind, he wasn’t the one creating a human life. But it just meant he had a hard time focusing on work, especially when his daughter was being adorably distracting. She was doing things like lining up small horse toys on his desk, asking him to open snacks or a packet of crayons in her cute little voice. 

Aelin wasn’t home, she had gone for a check up and a scan, and because of the current conditions he wasn’t allowed to go with her. Plus there was the fact they had a toddler who no one was really allowed to babysit anyway. So Rowan had stayed home and left the study door open so that Elsie could walk in and out as she pleased and he could keep an ear out for what she was up to. Right now he heard a dragging noise and then she came through the door, her mini backpack dragging behind her. Rowan smiled at her and she gave him a toothy grin in return. 

“Whitethorn.”

Rowan nearly jumped at Lorcan’s voice, but managed to keep his cool. “Yes?”

“I’m going to pretend this isn’t the third time I’ve asked you for those numbers,” Lorcan said, but his voice was lacking it’s usual harshness. He was the most understanding of all Rowan’s colleagues, with a hellion like Korbin running their household. 

“Yeah, one sec,” Rowan started lifting the toys on his desk to find the paper that he needed. As he did there was a screech and Rowan froze, looking over at his daughter.

She started waving her hands, her brow furrowed in her distress as she said, “No, no, no, no, no.”

She toddled over and Rowan tried to figure out what she was upset about. Then he looked at what he held in his hand. He had moved her horses. Muffled laughter sounded from his screen, they all knew that laughing at Elspeth was a dangerous game if she wasn’t in on the joke.

“Sorry, little love,” Rowan said, putting the horse back where he found it as Elsie glared up at him. “Dada just needed to get his papers.”

“Ta!” Elsie said, raising one hand and doing a grabby action. 

Rowan took a guess at what she was asking for and started handing her her horses and she put them in her backpack, one by one. When she was done she left, taking her full backpack with her. That left Rowan to go back to looking for the page he needed. It seemed that Elsie had been in his papers as well and they were all mixed up. His colleagues were chatting amongst themselves while they waited. Rowan knew if it had been any other day they would have been ripping into him, telling him to hurry up, but instead they were being lenient. Finally, Rowan found the page he was looking for, but his face fell when he saw he couldn’t read it because it was covered in thick, black texta lines.

Rowan shook his head, “Hold on, I’ll have to grab it off my laptop again.” Frazzled, he grabbed his laptop from the corner of the desk. When he opened it he saw it was almost out of battery and he didn’t want it cutting out mid sentence. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Ducking under the desk Rowan grabbed the charging cord, Elsie calling his name from right next to him made him jump and he smacked his head on the underside of the desk. He bit back his curse, not wanting Elsie to repeat it. When he emerged she was holding out a hat to him, one of Aelin’s. It was a blue felt thing with a pink ribbon around it, with a wide and floppy brim.

“Do I have to?” Rowan asked.

Elsie stepped closer, offering it to him. With a sigh he took it and put it on.

“Looking good, Rowan,” Vaughan teased. 

“It really makes your complexion pop,” Connall added. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Rowan said, not even looking at the desktop while he looked at his laptop screen.

Elsie was unpacking her horses again, lining them back up on the desk, Rowan didn’t try to stop her.

“Ok, I’ve got it,” Rowan said and started rattling off his report. The brim of the hat kept falling into his face so he went to take it off. There was another screech and Rowan’s heart just about stopped in his chest. “Gods damn it.”

“Dammit!” Elsie parroted back to him.

“Ah — no,” Rowan stammered, “don’t say that, alright?”

Fenrys just laughed at him and the others joined in. Then Fenrys lent forward, “Elsie, sweetheart, what you got there?”

She could barely see over the top of the desk but she looked up at the screen and held up one of her toy horses to show Fenrys. “Neigh,” she said by way of explanation.

“Oh, a horse,” Fenrys said very seriously. “Do you have anymore?”

Elise started to babble away, showing Fenrys toy after toy as he nodded and gushed over when he showed her, not understanding her in the slightest. Rowan gave his friend a grateful look as the distraction let him remove the hat. Soon Elsie had gone through all the horses and then pointed to Fenrys.

“‘Tay dere,” she told Fenrys and she toddled out of the study.

With the distraction gone Rowan continued to go through his report. Elsie came back in and Rowan assumed she had just brought in another toy to show her audience but then there was a choking noise, and he looked up to see Gavriel choking on his drink. Confused, Rowan looked down to Elsie and he felt his cheeks flush. 

“Ahhh ffffuuuu…dgeballs,” Rowan muttered and then could only stare.

Lorcan noticed next and snorted.

Rowan felt as though his face was burning. Elsie had somehow managed to find an empty condom box and was now using it as what looked like to be disproportionate stable for her horses. The box bent out of shape as she tried to cram them in. 

“Wait, what?” Fenrys blurted out as he registered what Elsie had. “If you had those… Oh, it’s empty, that explains things.”

“Mute him now!” Gavriel said, his voice strained still recovering from his choking.

There were murmurs of agreement and then Fenrys said, “What, wh —“ 

He didn’t get to finish his sentence before Lorcan muted him. He flipped off the rest of his colleagues.

“What is going on?”

Rowan turned to see Aelin standing in the doorway, a small smile on her face as she took in the scene before her.

“Why is Elsie using *that* box as a house?” Aelin asked, not embarrassed in the slightest. “And why is Fenrys holding up a sign with insults written on it?”

Rowan looked at the screen and Fenrys was indeed holding up a sign featuring some colourful language. Lucky Elsie couldn’t read yet. 

“Want to see something?” She asked Rowan. He nodded and she pulled out a photo from her pocket. “There is our little baby.”

Rowan looked at the little black and white photo, the writing in the top corner reading 9 week + 2 days. In the middle was a little figure that was just starting to look like a real teeny tiny human, with a head and little limbs. But there it was and Rowan couldn’t help the tears that were stinging at his eyes. 

When he was done he handed it back to Aelin and she turned it to show everyone on the screen. They all ooo-ed and ahh-ed, Fenrys held up a sign that said congratulations, Connall said it was already looking like Rowan and Aelin exclaimed, “That’s what I said!” Elsie reached up, doing her grabby hands again and Rowan lifted her into his lap. Aelin passed her the photo as she then rested on Rowan’s knee and talked to her uncle, the meeting very well and truly derailed once again. 

“What dis?” Elsie asked, pointing to the photo.

“That’s the baby that’s growing in Mummy’s tummy. That’s your baby brother or sister,” Rowan explained.

“Baby,” Elsie said as she touched the photo. “Essie baby.” Then she hugged the photo to her chest. 

Aelin turned precariously so she could watch her daughter, no doubt catching a glimpse of what was happening on the screen. Her eyes were starting to brim with tears and she lent down to kiss Rowan.

“And I think we’re done,” Lorcan said and Rowan’s screen went entirely black as he was disconnected, leaving the family to enjoy this moment on their own.


End file.
